Mike Crain was always thinking and dreaming about boxing, even when he was a state champion wrestler in 2004 at Smyrna High School and runner-up in each of the two previous seasons.

So it's easy to imagine Crain's excitement, 13 years later, over making his professional boxing debut on Friday night and finally getting to live out his dream.

Crain is part of a card in The First State Pro Boxing Series that features seven boxers from Delaware - three of them making their pro debuts. The event will be held at the Nur Shrine Temple on Dupont Highway in New Castle, beginning at 7 p.m. The Delaware boxers are Crain, Reuel Williams, Maurice Horne, Joey Tiberi, Felix Manzueta, Lamont Singletary and Anthony Miller.

"It has been a long time coming," said Crain, who's 30 years old. "I've been training for this day for years. Boxing is what I've always wanted to do. I started wrestling because there wasn't really any place to box."

The dream began when Crain was in middle school. He was watching a rebroadcast of the 1987 fight between Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler on ESPN Classic one night and said he was hooked. At the time Leonard was in his first fight after a three-year retirement. He ended up winning the fight in a split decision over Hagler, who had won his previous 12 fights, 11 by knockout.

"That was a great fight," Crain said. "They kept going at each other. I wanted to be like that."

Crain just didn't know if he would get the chance. He won the state wrestling championship at 125 pounds at Smyrna after finishing second at 119 pounds as a junior and 112 pounds as a sophomore. After high school, Crain wrestled for three years at The Williamson College of the Trades, a junior college located in Media, Pennsylvania. Then Crain moved back to Smyrna, got a job and helped coach the Eagles' wrestling team while working out at The Dog Pound in Dover.

He wasn't really thinking about a boxing career at that time. But after a few years, Crain said he realized that while working out, some of the exercises he was doing actually helped him train for boxing.

Crain had also gotten to know Mike Tiberi during his wrestling days in high school. And about three years ago, the two began talking about embarking on a boxing career, with Tiberi serving as a trainer.

"Part of my training was hitting bags, so I felt like I was in good enough shape to give it a shot, just to see if anything could develop," Crain said.

Crain trained with Tiberi for a few months, then switched to Bernard Miller, whom he has trained with ever since.

Miller convinced Crain that he should fight at least 10 amateur bouts before turning pro, but only if Crain went 8-2 or better. Crain actually had 13 amateur fights and won 12 of them.

"We both felt that I was ready," Crain said.

So did other members of the Tiberi boxing family.

"He's a real humble kid," said Nick Tiberi, the matchmaker for the event. "He's the type of kid who works really hard. He's a grinder and is really focused on what he does."

That applies to Crain's everyday life, too. He works at the Walmart Distribution Center in Smyrna on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, then spends the other days of the week training and boxing. He said he knows the possibilities that lie ahead, but he's not thinking about that now.

"I'm just focusing on winning this fight," he said. "Then I'll see where that takes me."